For the future of our child
by Undercover-Dark-Knight
Summary: A little look into Ishtar's head shortly before the fall of Freege in the epilogue. I put in under romance since it focuses on Ishtar/Yurius's relationship, although it talks a little about various other important people in Ishtar's life.


Well, I was trying to dodge a mid-sem quiz, so i came up with this.

I'm surprised though, that nobody thought to write about this couple at all, not even something M-rated about them. I'm not sure if i pitched the relationship between them right, and the end might feel a little rushed. I guess something that really strikes me about FE4 is that the ambiguity and generational cross-over allows for a flexibility of interpretation, to a degree. As a result, I find the villain mix in the second generation is interesting. We have they tyrannical, queen-mother wannabe in someone like Hilda, yet we have the misguided, wants-the-best-for-the-peoplers like Trabant and Alvis. I don't know, did i make Yurius too... human? Does being the Dark Lord mean that you have to be cruel, calculated and callous? I mean, it's implied that the only one he really cares about is Ishtar, which is why I hope i can get away with the "human" side here.

N.B.: I remixed the conversation Ishtar and Yurius have once you capture Freege, to make it fit a bit more. Please forgive me.

Please R&R, go all-out on the criticism if you like, just make it constructive.

Disclaimer: I love Seisen no Keifu, but I don't own anything. Intelligent Systems does. Although, i'd be happy if i could take one of the battlements of the castle away as a souvenir...

* * *

The truth is, I never really thought much about how things ended up this way..

Until now, that is.

As I stand on the battlements of Barhara castle, I can almost feel the distant battle taking place in Freege, my homeland.

Freege, where I was born.

Freege, where aunt Tiltyu taught me how to first use thunder magic.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my mother or anything. It's just that she was always very distant, very strict. She cared more about how presentable I was to Yurius relative to other noble ladies, even after Yurius made it fairly obvious he preferred me over a harem of other ladies. She was furious at Ishtore when he introduced Liza to her, since Liza was just "some minor noble's daughter". In that sense, I don't think my brother and I always saw eye-to-eye with our mother. She always wanted her agenda, on her terms, in our lives, especially in our choice of suitors.

In many ways, aunt Tiltyu was my real mother. Apart from being my first teacher with thunder magic (Ishtore always suspected that someone had also been teaching me before dad started to teach me, although he never worked out who it was), she cared about me as a person. If I was sick, she would be the one to tell me to rest up or see a physician. If me and mother had and argument, she would always be there to talk through it with me. Perhaps that was part of the reason mother absolutely hated her. Although aunt Tiltyu always said that I didn't owe her anything, I guess the least that I could do was look out for her daughter after she died, even if it meant sometimes covering for her in front of my mother.

Actually, now that I think about it, it's interesting. I don't think Tinny ever suspected that her father was none other than Azel, half-brother to emperor Alvis. It also explained why mother (despite being the emperor's cousin) would always stop short of physically and magically abusing aunt Tiltyu, even though she hated her so much.

It's ironic, in a way, that at this very moment Tinny is fighting at Freege, in the liberation army against us. There's a small part of me that wishes to go there and join them… but I can't.

I am held back by the very man who runs the hated child-hunts, the very man I love.

Yurius, the very reincarnation of the Dark Lord Loputosu.

The very man who makes me feel guilty every single time I secretly set a group of children free.

* * *

It wasn't really love at first sight or anything. I mean, we first met as kids when we were like, 8 or 9. Back then, the Dark Lord hadn't begun to influence him yet. What was interesting though, was that even then, he could already see through people's actions.

I had been specifically told by mother to keep Prince Yurius entertained for the entire duration of their stay, and to assist him in anything he needed. Poor Ishtore was instructed to do the same for Princess Yuria, who was incredibly shy. In essence, my brother and I were supposed to be entertaining the royal twins, although the way my mother went on about it she probably wanted us to court them.

I did as I was told, as a dutiful daughter. We spent a little time walking in the gardens, around the castle, and made small talk. However, barely half an hour later, he cut me off abruptly. I still remember the first meaningful words he spoke to me.

"_I can tell that this isn't what you like doing normally, and I can tell that you don't normally act like this either. So shall we do something else that we both appreciate?"_

I'd done my best to mask it all, speaking in a higher than usual pitch, being courteous and polite, laughing at exactly the right moments, as I'd been taught to do from a very young age.

In the end, we ended up practising magic. Thankfully my parents never found out, otherwise things could have taken a much nastier turn for aunt Tiltyu. Although I'm not half as perceptive as he is, I could tell too, that he enjoyed this far more than walking the gardens.

As few years later, father appointed me as Freege's ambassador to Barhara. Obviously my mother had a heavy influence in it, as part of her plan to try and get me closer to Yurius. Perhaps partly also because under aunt Tiltyu and my father's training, I'd become one of the most feared thunder mages in the continent.

It was quite interesting because when I arrived at Barhara, I really didn't fit in. There was, and still is, a stigma attached to women who join or participate in military activities. At the first court function I attended, I was effectively ignored by all the other young ladies of the court simply because I knew how to fight. I got a few looks from some of the less reputable noblemen, but none dared come near me, lest the rumours about my magic proficiency be true.

Of course, when Prince Yurius entered the room, most of the ladies made a start to get his attention, but I was rooted to the spot. Why? Because from that moment he entered the room, his eyes didn't even wander, they went straight to me. I don't even think he paid any attention to any of the other ladies, he just walked straight over to me and extended his hand. That's when he said the next set of words that I'll never forget.

"_Lady Ishtar, would you kindly allow me the pleasure of this next dance?"_

The flow of time in that room stopped at that statement, musicians included. It took me a full fifteen seconds before I could stammer a yes. I found out later that he made it a point never to dance with anyone at functions, social or official, so my entrance had taken the whole of Barhara by storm, no pun intended. Not too long after that, people began whispering about the "Goddess of Thunder".

However, from that dance, I knew something about him had changed. He definitely wasn't the boy whom I practised magic with. There was a sense of power, of authority that I'd never felt before in his movements and his voice. He exuded a much darker aura, one that was much more overwhelming.

Probably every other lady would have overjoyed to be singled out by the prince like that, but the truth is that I was scared by his aura at first. It was far darker than I remembered it (not that I remember very well), but gradually, I let it willingly overwhelm me. At that point in time, I didn't know about him being Loputosu's reincarnation, but the fear lessened as I gradually grew into the role of being his fiancée.

I think another reason the fear lessened was that when I did find out, he didn't ask anything of me. Although he was conscious of his newfound aura's effect on me, he didn't use it in any way to keep me quiet or rush me into something binding. He let relationship develop at a pace comfortable to both of us in light of that revelation. In a sense, that drew me even closer to him.

"_I would never dream of asking you to do anything you are uncomfortable with, Ishtar."_

Which is why he never asked me to participate in the child-hunts. True to his form though, he didn't let that create an unspoken distance between us. If anything he made every effort to compensate for that. Admittedly the compensation was a bit more physical, more sensual than I would have imagined, but honestly, I didn't mind. I mean, let's face it; who was really going to stop us? He was the crown prince and I the most eligible bachelorette in the entire empire (even if I say so myself). Altenna could compete with me I guess, but everyone knew she was in love with Arion.

I think it was Ishtore's death that really loosened me up. As I said earlier, my mother was cold and strict, and well, father was preoccupied with reorganising the defences in the area to limit the damage done by losing Issac, Melgan and his own defeat at Manster castle within a matter of weeks.

At first I was a little shy about the intimacy, but he didn't force me or anything. At first we started off going a little beyond the kiss in private, but eventually we went further and further. What surprised me though was that I'd become the one wanting more. Of course, for the very same reason he didn't push me, I didn't push him.

* * *

"I'd expected to find you here, my love."

I looked at the horizon. "Freege will fall soon, Yurius. I'm scared. They broke Dozel and Edda as well."

He pulled me into his embrace. "It does not matter. So long as I hold Loputosu, we cannot be defeated."

"But…" I began, but he cut me off by placing a finger on my lips.

"We will succeed. For our future, and for the future of our child." He placed a hand on my stomach. "You just stay put. I cannot afford to lose you."

"I mean no disrespect, but do understand I take great pride in being a warlock of Freege. With the murder of my parents and my brother, it pains me to sit here doing nothing. Please, Yurius, allow me to fight!"

His gaze met mine,and I felt that his aura almost overwhelm me again. But as usual, he didn't use it to force me. "Very well. Take the Weissen Ritter with you. But at the first sign of trouble, I want you back here, by my side."

He leaned over, kissed me and left.

I closed my eyes.

"_For the future of our child…"_

* * *

So how was it?


End file.
